Devastated- 11 eggs collected yesterday none fertilised

[lmno]

Had egg collection yesterday (first round of IVF) where they managed to get 11 eggs which was way more than we expected. Embryologist just called to say none of them fertilised even though sperm was looking good and 8 eggs were mature. Feeling pretty gutted as we were feeling really hopeful yesterday. Going to speak to consultant about ICSI but can’t imagine being up for going through all of this again to be honest. In some ways it’s given us some answers about why we haven’t conceived naturally. Anyone else had problems with egg and sperm not bonding? Any advice? It’s my birthday today so it really couldn’t have been worse timing to get this news

[ttcrainbowbabypatel]

I'm sorry this has happened to you. It happened to a friend of mine as well. I would suggest that you go and see a urologist if you haven't already when you are ready. Jonathan Ramsay (London Urology Associates) is among the best in the country, if not the best. If you can't get an appointment with him, you can see his colleague Suks Minhas. This is understandably difficult to cope with so I'm wishing you the best at this time and sending you lots of love. Take some time out, just the two of you, and focus on yourselves before you take the next steps, whatever you choose to do.

[londonrc in reply to ttcrainbowbabypatel]

Can I ask why you suggest a urologist for this? Just interested.

[ttcrainbowbabypatel in reply to londonrc]

To talk about the sperm and see if a urologist would say that due to no eggs being fertilised, any tests should be done.

[ttcrainbowbabypatel]

I'd also see if I could arrange to speak to the embryologist for more information.

[lmno in reply to ttcrainbowbabypatel]

We have a follow up appointment with our consultant tomorrow - what questions would you recommend we ask?

[ttcrainbowbabypatel in reply to lmno]

What the sperm looked like on the day, the motility, the quality, etc.

[Niki_B]

I'm so very sorry truely heartbreaking 😟 hopefully you can find some answers somehow. Please look after yourself at such a sad time xx

[lmno in reply to Niki_B]

Thank you

[Cinderella5]

Im so sorry, this must be so devastating for you both!! Hopefully the embryologist can shed some light on this. It has happened to others in the past in here so hopefully they can help with some advice!xx

[lmno in reply to Cinderella5]

Thank you

[Hidden]

I’m so very sorry. Take care x

[lmno in reply to Hidden]

Thanks

[Kari55]

So sorry to hear this, i can imagine how disappointed you must feel. I understand that you had unexplained infertility so at least the IVF attempt has shown that there is a problem with fertilisation. I know you don’t feel at the moment like doing it ever again but just give yourself some time and decide after what you want to do. I guess they will recommend ICSI next time, I would be surprised if they would like to dig into the root cause of why this is happening. During our 1st IVF they discovered that my husband’s sperm is sticky and suspect the antisperm antibodies hence they did ICSI straight away. Be kind to yourself, sending lots of love xx

[lmno in reply to Kari55]

Thanks. Can I ask why you say they wouldn’t dig into the root cause? That’s exactly what I think needs to happen as it doesn’t seem like a good enough explanation that the eggs and sperm simply “don’t like each other”

[Kari55 in reply to lmno]

This is just from my experience, I really hope that yours will be different. Nobody ever wanted to try and find out why my husband has got antibodies to his own sperm and why his morphology is so low when count so high. They told us that they are able to bypass it with ICSI and IMSI. We suspect however that my husband’s sperm quality is affected by his autoimmune immune illness (Graves disease). I believe that only a functional doctor might be able to help but they are very expensive. I think you need to be your own detective and look at yours and your husband’s health and see if anything can be improved. How are you feeling today? X

[lmno in reply to Kari55]

That’s really interesting as my husband also has an autoimmune disease (Crohn’s)

[Kari55 in reply to lmno]

Sorry to hear that your husband has an autoimmune illness too. My husband is trying to follow an autoimmune protocol diet since March but despite our efforts we were not able to conceive so currently preparing for IMSI. It is hard to tell how immune system and fertility (particularly on male side) are linked as more research is needed. The good news is that some people manage to conceive. If you find any answers please share them with me. I have spent months researching. I wish you all the best and I’m sure things can be possible for you with ICSI. X

[genten]

I'm so so sorry to hear this. My heart really does go out to you.

Hoping you can find some answers in the coming days.

xx

[lmno in reply to genten]

Thank you

[Cako123]

Sorry to hear this. Sometimes it just happens! We had 9 eggs and used a sperm donor with ICSI, and still only 1 fertilised!!! Then it didn’t develop as it should. My eggs are apparently really healthy, and so was the donor sperm. That was two weeks ago and we are feeling more positive already. Unfortunately you just have to go through the emotions - it sucks!! Sending you big hugs xxx

[lmno in reply to Cako123]

Thanks that’s good to hear. I’m sure as you say we will feel better in time - it just feels like we’ve been a bit blindsided at the moment

[Autumnmoon]

Oh no you must be so disappointed hope you can get some helpful suggestions from your clinic and try again when you feel ready sorry for your spoilt Birthday too x

[lmno in reply to Autumnmoon]

Thanjs

[Luna11]

I’m so sorry to hear your news. We have just done ICSI and out of 9 eggs 3 were fertilised and I have just had one transferred today.

Please don’t give up. Take care of yourself 😘 xx

[lmno in reply to Luna11]

Thanks and good luck with your transfer. They seemed to suggest that they didn’t think the egg and sperm would ever bond on their own based on this cycle so probably ICSI only option but they kept saying there are lots more risks on the phone. I literally know nothing about the process so have lots of questions.

[Luna11 in reply to lmno]

I would be interested to see what the risks are, my clinic were very pro ICSI. Hope you can get some answers!!! Xx

[lmno in reply to Luna11]

Oh really? We’ll find out more tomorrow but from what I understand I think they were saying there are most risks around miscarriage and genetic abnormalities?

[Luna11 in reply to lmno]

Let me know how you get on xx

[MightyB in reply to lmno]

I am doing ICSI for the first time due to low sperm count and haven't been told about any increased risks, nor did I find any when researching it myself. My partner also has an autoimmune disease (Colitis) which I also wondered if it affected things like you say. I am so sorry to hear of your news, it sounds like you could be more successful with ICSI. Good luck.

[lmno in reply to MightyB]

Hiya, we had our appointment this afternoon with our consultant and he seems to think there aren’t really any more risks with ICSI (other than a 1% chance of chromosomal complications) so I’m not sure why we were told that by the embryologist. It turns out the issue is more likely with me (low AMH and I took a long time to respond to stimulation which indicates possible issue with my eggs) and also a problem with egg/sperm recognition which is preventing fertilisation (although they couldn’t really explain why that happens). Hope your ICSI cycle is successful and goes smoothly

[magda22]

So sorry, it feels so rubbish to have fertilisation fail I'm sending lots of love and strength, take some time for you. Xxxx

[lmno in reply to magda22]

Thank you

[Hidden]

This happened on our second cycle! After all you go through ! Clinic said they only have a window of so many hours to perform icsi and it was too late. So felt so sore from egg collection and nothing to show for it!!!! It can take a few rounds to get success so don’t give up ! 11 eggs is a good number so icsi should work if you do another cycle xxx

[lmno in reply to Hidden]

Yeah this is exactly it - our first IVF appointment was at beginning of June so this has been 4 months of appointments and waiting and injections and scans and feeling awful and then it just is suddenly over with no warning and no explanation. It doesn’t seem real. It seems mad to have gone through all of that and to be right back where we started. I don’t know if we feel up to doing any other rounds - it had such a massive impact physically and emotionally and I found it massively disruptive to work etc. Just feel gutted.

[Hidden]

I'm so sorry 😢 It's just heart breaking. We have just finished our second round. The first only one fertilised the second two fertilised but didn't make the night. It's devastating. Have they checked karyotype, genetics? It's so frustrating I really feel ur pain. Take sometime to grieve you can do this xxx

[lmno in reply to Hidden]

So sorry to hear that. It’s just so much to go through and most people around us don’t even know! I have no idea what tests they have done but will ask at our follow up appointment tomorrow. What tests would you recommend getting?

[Kiedy84]

I am so sorry to hear this😭I have 4 weeks to decide whether we want to go ahead with IVF.

I literally don't know how I would cope in this situation. We are also unexplained. Absolutely gutted you had to deal with this on your birthday😢😢 sending you lots of love x

[lmno in reply to Kiedy84]

I think this is pretty rare (they said there was a 5% chance of this happening) so hopefully you will have more success than us.

The one positive is that it has given us a bit more information about why we haven’t been able to conceive - that’s something I’ve been asking for almost 3 years now.

[KiraJean]

I'm so sorry this happened to you, but rest assured you are not alone. This happened to my husband and I as well. Healthy sperm, good mature eggs (lots of them) and absolutely no fertilisation through IVF and no reason why! We have gone on to have ICSI with our second cycle and that was a lot more successful. You should not give up hope! But as everyone has suggested, speak to your embryologist first and take some time to take care of yourself. Be kind to yourself. Although this may be a bad birthday right now, there are some happy ones in your future. Just take your time and get the information you need from your clinic. xxx

[lmno in reply to KiraJean]

Thanks for your kind message. I’m glad you had more positive results from ICSI - can I ask if it led to pregnancy for you? What information would you recommend we look for from the clinic? We have an appointment tomorrow and I have no idea what to ask.

[Lizzielizzielizzie]

I’m so so sorry.

We had poor fertilisation on our first round and, eventually, found out that my hubbie carries a balanced chromosome translocation. His sperm analyses had always come back within normal parameters, so it was a slim chance that anything would be wrong on his side but we had karyotyping done on both of us and discovered the problem. We were told it was a 2% chance that the karyotyping would find anything on either of us but we were so glad we paid for that test as it got us answers.

There are some other ladies on here who found a different reason for no fertilisation and hopefully they’ll see this post as I can’t remember all the details.

[lmno in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

Thanks I’ve never heard of those tests so that’s something to look into. How did you go about organising them?

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to lmno]

I asked our fertility clinic what other tests they offered then had almost all of them!

[lmno in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

I asked if there were any tests and they said there aren’t any. It’s a health board funded cycle so I wonder if that makes a difference?

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to lmno]

Yes I think it would. You’d need to find somewhere that offers private testing. The NHS doesn’t approve some of the tests I had but the others are ones they’ll only do after recurrent miscarriage, including karyotyping.

[strong-girl]

Hi

Hope your ok

I do know how u feel because Iv been in the same boat my first cycle we got 15 eggs and 0 fertilised they could not say why and said there was evidence of bonding second cycle was ICSI and we got 7 eggs and only one fertilised this time the embryolist stated that it may be down to oocyte activation.

I felt devasted and unsure I had a 3 day transfer and currently am 16 weeks pregnant I never expected it would work so chin up xxx

Sending you Lots of love and baby dust

[lmno in reply to strong-girl]

Congratulations. It’s so hard to know when it’s time to accept it’s not going to happen and move on, or whether to keep trying other things.

[magda22 in reply to lmno]

So true....xx

[DisneyJL]

Thinking of you both at this time, it must have been devastating after such a positive start! I know you’re going to be grieving at the moment, but once you’ve had time to think about the future & discussed options with your clinic, then hopefully you will be able to see the positives. One of which being 11 eggs were collected with 8 being mature!!! That’s a great number, & definitely provides hope for your next cycle should you decide to do it. Take care xx

[lmno in reply to DisneyJL]

Yes I think that’s why the news was such a shock as we got way more eggs than they/we were expecting. At the moment I can’t imagine being up for another cycle - I found this one really gruelling physically. But I think you’re right we just need to take time to grieve and then think about what’s next.

[DisneyJL in reply to lmno]

That’s totally understandable - take all the time you need. xx

[hifer]

I am very sorry to hear this. It is such an incredibly stressful procedure (both emotionally and physically) and it takes its toll on so many areas of your life. All I can say is that it is very raw at the moment so don't give up hope just yet. You need to take some time out to reflect before making any big decisions. I know you don't feel like celebrating but happy birthday! xx

[lmno in reply to hifer]

Thank you. Yes time out to process is definitely what we need. About an hour after we got the news we started looking up holidays!

[hifer in reply to lmno]

Oh excellent news. Good for you. Go somewhere hot and get lots of Vit D Well done for trying to stay positive. It must be very hard x

[andylins]

I'm so sorry this time didn't work out for you. And I'm sorry this news coincided with your birthday..I truly think icsi will help with it. The most important thing about it is that you do produce enough of healthy eggs. and the swimmers are perfect, so I'm praying your joy's just around the corner. All my positive thoughts going your way. Take care x

[lmno in reply to andylins]

Thanks. The embryologist said on the phone that there are lots of risks associated with ICSI which I think has spooked us so this might be the end of the road for us. But hopefully we can get some more information and figure out what’s right for us

[Bumbo]

Oh my goodness Imno, I am so so sorry. This happened to us in July so I know the absolute devastation of this outcome, it's indescribable. They also retrieved 11 eggs from me, however only 4 were mature. I will dm you as I have seen 3 consultants and I'm currently going through our 4th cycle so I can tell you what they've done differently. Lots of hugs xxx

[lmno in reply to Bumbo]

Oh thanks I’d really appreciate that

[Scarlett13]

I know someone that this happened to then they did ICSI for round 2 and are now soon to give birth! Don’t give up yet, you’ve got so much potential x

[lmno in reply to Scarlett13]

That’s good to hear. The consultant was definitely recommending we try ICSI and that we do it sooner rather than later because of potential issues with my eggs. Something to think about but I don’t want to rush into it

[Scarlett13 in reply to lmno]

Don’t leave it too long either - it can be a long journey!! Is that a blue point ragdoll I spy?! ❤️

[lmno in reply to Scarlett13]

Yeah it’s already been a long journey I just don’t want to feel rushed into making a decision we aren’t ready for. Ha possibly but it was randomly assigned to me - I actually hate cats!